Sesame oil seeds and its health benefits

Sesame oil and studies on health benefits such as
lowering cholesterol

Sesame
seeds enjoy high level of natural antioxidants called sesamolin, sesamol
and sesamin oils. These oils contains about 47 percent oleic and 39 percent
linoleic acid. Like sunflower oil, sesame seed oil, is rich in Omega 6
fatty acids. Furthermore, sesame seeds contain 25 percent of its weight
in proteins. After after oil extraction, the sesame seed flour that remains
is between 30 to 50 percent protein and these remains have good effective
carbohydrates and furthermore contain water-soluble antioxidants called
sesaminol glucosides responsible for added shelf-life to many products. In
short sesame seeds contain many different B-complex vitamins such as thiamin
(B1), niacin, folic acid, pyridoxine (B6) and riboflavin. B-complex
vitamins are essential to improve the nervous system, metabolism, eyes,
organs, skin, muscles and hair, vital for red blood cell production, bone
mineralization, enzyme synthesis and hormone production So sesame seeds are
high in fibre, vitamin B-complex, protein, magnesium, calcium, iron and
copper as shown in the table on the right:

Sesamin reducing LDL and cholesterol levels

An early study
showed that hypercholesterolemic patients treated with 32 mg/day of sesamin
reduced their levels of total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and
cholesterol after only eight weeks, compared with control patients with
unchanged levels.

In
yet another study 21 hypercholesterolemia patients showed significant
reductions in both LDL and cholesterol, due to the fact of consuming
40 grams of sesame seeds during 4 weeks. Interesting to mention is that
this benefit in cholesterol disappeared when the patients resumed their
diet with no sesame seeds for the next four weeks.

Recent
studies on the benefits of sesame seeds have confirmed these findings.
Similar consisten reductions in LDL, triglyceridesand total cholesterol. Hypertensive
patients compared the cholesterol-lowering ability of sesame oil with
groundnut and sunflower oils, sesame oil demonstrated to be a superior
antioxidant and a better protector against lipid peroxidation.

In yet another
study sesame seeds made clear inhibition effect of the atherosclerosis
lesion formation. the build up of plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis)
is provoked by lipid peroxidation which Is in principle is a harmful free
radical-generating process. Sesame oil inhibits this process by altering
the lipid profile.

The table shows the
nutrients of sesame seeds. It shows that sesame seeds are a very good
source of copper, magnesium and calcium. Just a quarter-cup (0.25 cup) of
sesame seeds supplies 74.0% of the daily value for copper, 31.6% for
magnesium, and 35.1% of the daily value for calcium. These nutrients
reflect the following health benefits:

- Copper Provides Relief
for Rheumatoid Arthritis

- Magnesium Supports
Vascular and Respiratory Health

- Calcium Helps Prevent
Colon Cancer, Osteoporosis, Migraine and PMS

- Zinc for Bone Health

- Sesame Seeds'
Phytosterols Lower Cholesterol

Sesame
seeds are also high in so called ‘mono-unsaturated’ fatty acid and oleic
acid. Oleic acid helps to lower bad cholesterol and increase good
cholesterol in the blood preventing the coronary artery disease and strokes
as the research on the left show.